Google plans YouTube movie rentals; how long until Android joins in?

Google announced it will have a limited number of feature films available for rental on YouTube in conjunction with the Sundance Film Festival. Five films from 2009 and 2010 will be featured, and they'll be available this Friday through Sunday, Jan. 31. And more's coming in the weeks ahead, Google says, including "a small collection of rental videos from other U.S. partners across different industries, including health and education."

And so that leads us logically to this question: How long before we see YouTube video rentals translate onto Android (and other platforms)? Chances are Google's taking very small steps here, but don't be surprised when we start seeing more of our little robot friend playing box-office maven.

Oh, and the five films being featured? Check 'em out after the break. (Thanks, Sharon!)

AdMob: Android numbers nearly double again

Another quarterly report from AdMob, another major climb for Android. The Q4 2009 numbers show that AdMob (which serves mobile advertising) fed nearly twice as many Android devices in the United States as it did in the third quarter, up to 27 percent (from 14 percent in Q3). Other bullet points:

Leading the way for Android in the U.S. in December was the Motorola Droid, with 11.3 percent of all U.S. requests. The Dream (G1) was next at 8.3 percent, followed by the Hero at 4.2 percent, the Motorola Cliq at 3.4 percent, the Magic at 3.2 percent and the Droid Eris at 2.2 percent. The Samsung Moment had 1.1 percent.

As it stands, Android had seven of the top 10 smartphones for the final month of the year and had 36 percent of U.S. ad requests. Also making the list were the iPhone (No. 1), BlackBerry Curve 8300 (No. 5) and Palm Pre (No. 8).

The U.S. made up 48 percent of December's 11.5 million requests.

Worldwide, Android made up 19 percent of ad requests.

HTC had 11 percent of worldwide ad requests, followed by Motorola at 8 percent and Samsung at 1 percent.

Xperia X10 announced for DoCoMo in Japan

You know it as the Android-powered Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, but on Japan's DoCoMo network, it's going as the "Smartphone Xperia," and it'll be available in April. The X10 -- erm, Smartphone Xperia -- will be available in white or black and will feature the same Timescape UI that we saw in our own hands-on. Still no word when we might actually see the Smartphone Xperia -- erm, Xperia X10 -- in this part of the world. [NTT DoCoMo]

Garmin-ASUS To Show Off Android Phone At MWC

Please welcome Garmin-ASUS to the Android party! After promising to deliver an Android device way back in December 2008 and then re-affirming that fact in June 2009, it looks like that Garmin-ASUS Android phone will be shown off at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Better late than never, right? No official details on the device has been announced so we'll keep a watchful eye on this Garmin-ASUS Android phone for the time being.

Can Garmin-ASUS hang with the big boys of HTC and Motorola in the Android space? We shall see in Barcelona!

But there's a glimmer of hope! A moderator in an internal T-Mobile forum has posted that the T-Mobile G1 will receive its update by the end of January. It's not the most official of sources but we want this to be true so bad, we're rolling with it. So what say you T-Mobile?

Do you guys desperately want the T-Mobile G1 to get Android 2.0? Or do you guys just want to buy the Nexus One now? Let us know!

Motorola Calgary/Devour in Verizon's system

Well lookie what just fell into our inbox. That's clearly the Android-powered Motorla Calgary (aka) the Devour listed on this CelleBrite unit, and it's making its way into Verizon's systems as you're reading this. Whether we'll see it in silver or black remains a mystery, as does price. But this pic clearly shows that a probable launch can't be too far off, so stay tuned, boys and girls.

Blackberry Hands On Video -- Smartphone Round Robin

Blackberry! We have Blackberrys in the house for Week 5 of the Smartphone Round Robin (we're a little late, we know) and it's definitely going to be a fun ride. Though the Blackberrys in this year's Round Robin (Storm 2, Bold 9700) are similar to the offerings we had last year, they're absolutely better devices overall. You can almost think of these devices as perfect Blackberrys.

Anybody rocking the myTouch 3G Fender?

Not a whole lot more to say about the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition (other than the official name is a mouthful) that we haven't already said. It went on sale today for $179.99 after two-year deal and whatnot. Anybody rush out and get one? [T-Mobile]

Attention all ____________ users: Google will now target ads at you

Google today announced a net strategy for AdWords, targeting users by directly depending on which carrier or device they use. That will let advertisers more directly reach consumers if they so choose, but it doesn't mean that you'll no longer see ads for, say, an iPhone while you're surfing on your Motorola Droid. Advertisers will have a choice. (Interestingly, though, options are to target iPhone/iPod touch, Android and webOS -- Symbian and Windows Mobile are shut out.)

Also, ads that link to mobile downloads are being refined so that they'll only appear on devices that can actually use that app. So, no Super Monkey Ball ads should show up on the Nexus One. And for ads of apps that your phone does support, Google's working to make it so that you'll see a "Download" link and not just a URL. Cool. [Inside AdWords]

Hands-on with SlideScreen: A whole lotta information goin' on

For anyone who chases news for a living, it's important to get information in front of you as quickly as possible. The advent of RSS feeds and homescreen widgets has made that easier than ever with Android, but SlideScreen is just out of control.

We could try to explain what it is you see here, but we go cross-eyed every time we try to do so. After the break, our hands-on video with SlideScreen.

Apple rumored to be considering Bing over Google's search

Our pals at The iPhone Blog point us to a piece that could pit Google and Apple against each other in the search market, with Microsoft a key player. The gist is that Apple reportedly is considering dropping Google as its default search engine and would switch to Bing, for which there already is an iPhone app. That would move a lot of iPhone eyeballs away from Google and onto Microsoft. From the BusinessWeek piece:

"Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy," says one of the people, who's familiar with Apple's thinking. "Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle." Apple is also working on ways to manage ad placement on its mobile devices, a move that would encroach on Google's ad-serving business, the person says.

Rene at TiPB sums things up nicely: This could be a big shift. Or it could fall apart and be nothing at all. Or it could be Apple stalling for time while it ramps up its own mobile search strategy, which likely was set back when Google bought AdMob and Apple was left with Quattro Wireless.

Either way, it means there's a mobile search battle brewing, and Android and the iPhone are on the front lines.

Looks like our pals over in England have quite a few big weeks in store. Above is the HTC Bravo in the flesh, which reportedly will be headed that way toward the end of February, bringing nearly the same specs as the Google Nexus One, including the 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 5MP camera, and all the other goodies. But what's new is an optical trackpad, seen in the middle of the device, instead of the trackball we have on the Nexus One here.

Coming earlier in the month, on Feb. 4, is the LG InTouch Max, which we've come to know as the LG GW620, sporting a 3-inch touchscreen, slider QWERTY keyboard and 5MP camera with face recognition. [via Omio.com]

Motorola reportedly doing all Android in 2010

Motorola is among the top Android phone manufacturers right now, and it looks like it's going to increase its standing in 2010. CNet Asia spoke with Spiros Nikolakopoulos, VP and GM of Asia Pacific and International Distribution for Moto's Mobile Devices end, who says:

Look for 20 to 30 smartphones worldwide in 2010 "and, at this moment, all of them will run Android." (Sorry, Windows Mobile)

One-third of Moto's Android engineering team is in the U.S., another third in Korea and another third in China. Now word on how many people that entails.

The "Motoroi" brand is specifically for Korea. the Chinese version of the phone will go by a different name. (And we assume the U.S. version, too, if and when it comes here.)

Opening up MotoBlur is "on the cards" (sic), but no time frame was given.

Between the Droid, Cliq, Backflip and now the Motoroi (or whatever it ends up being called), we're certainly seeing loads of good Motorola fare on our end. And it looks like 2010 may have more in store. [CNet Asia via wmpoweruser]

Video of the Nexus One keyboard issue

Remember how we talked about occasional problems with the Nexus One's on-screen keyboard occasionally going haywire? Managed to catch it on video this time. I'm perfectly willing to blame my own fat fingers for the majority of my typing problems, but there's clearly an issue here, even if it's only intermittent.

And as for the support thread in Google's forums: It's continuing to grow, though it's been three days since we've seen an official announcement on the issue. Stay tuned, folks, and check out my experience after the break.

Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by the Android Open Source Project
and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution License. AndroidCentral is an independent site
that is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.